Scholastic Unveils Global Literacy Campaign

(Press Release) NEW YORK, Oct. 18, PRNewswire—Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, is celebrating its 90th anniversary with Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life., a global literacy campaign that underscores the importance of reading as the pathway for young people to succeed in the 21st century. Scholastic is asking everyone committed to the support of young people— partners, educators, business leaders, publishers, booksellers, librarians, nonprofits, parents, caregivers and students—to work together to expand and support children's reading throughout the world.

The cornerstone of the Read Every Day campaign is the Reading Bill of Rights, eight beliefs that inform Scholastic's commitment to increasing literacy in the 21st century. These beliefs affirm every child's right to read in today's world—from access to books and great stories to the ability to analyze, interpret and understand information in the digital age.

"The ability to read, write, and understand text has never been more important," said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic. "We hope that the Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. campaign will inspire people everywhere to work together to bring reading and deeper understanding to children everywhere."

The goal of the campaign is to provide information and ideas to parents and teachers for making reading easier, more fun and more accessible to children while promoting the importance and value of reading for success in school and in life.

The Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. campaign contains several key elements, all accessible through the Read Every Day website at scholastic.com/readeveryday:

* The Reading Action Steps are actions that everyone can take to encourage a child to "Read Every Day." In support of this global call to action, more than 120 organizations and individuals to date have joined the Read Every Day campaign as Literacy Champions, and Scholastic is proud to recognize these groups for their important contributions for improving literacy around the world. In addition, to date, thousands of individuals have pledged to help encourage a child in their life to "Read Every Day" at scholastic.com/readeveryday.